Sound Deadening Model 3

[hridge2020]

There are only a couple of tire choices when you've got the Performance with 20” rims.

I have 18's

 

[St☰v☰]

Yes it did.. the final thing I did was the door seals recently... ultra quiet...

My next set... Is the tires, I've done this in the past of my other cars and found that the thread patterns are also to blame for road noise..
I will be checking out the tires more in detail when mine get close to wearing out. see image.


View attachment 462369

Wow, I bet those are noisy. Tires with more straight ribs are the less noisy.

 

[superbaka]

This is the rubber seal that I used: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S7P5P51/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Here is the picture of the trunk lid after installation. It significantly reduces vibration of the trunk lid and reduces noise coming in.

Cool. Did you buy the short or long one?

 

[hridge2020]

Wow, I bet those are noisy. Tires with more straight ribs are the less noisy.

 

[superbaka]

This is the rubber seal that I used: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S7P5P51/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Here is the picture of the trunk lid after installation. It significantly reduces vibration of the trunk lid and reduces noise coming in.

So I went to install this and careful analysis showed me that it would interfere with the current seal in many places. I identified the area with the largest lack of a seal, and which way to install it to create the best seal.

What I ended up with was the area along the sides and also on the lift gate itself only for the area sealing the taillights. Unlike the doors, there isn't much to improve on the trunk.

Also - I decided to remove the "spare tire" cover. I went into the trunk and found it was a source of tremendous sub-bass. Simply by tapping on it you could hear the resonance like a bass drum or subwoofer. I removed it and put a down comforter in place of the spare tire area, and low and behold, a huge reduction in sub-bass frequencies on the highway!

 

[Dan203]

Also - I decided to remove the "spare tire" cover. I went into the trunk and found it was a source of tremendous sub-bass. Simply by tapping on it you could hear the resonance like a bass drum or subwoofer. I removed it and put a down comforter in place of the spare tire area, and low and behold, a huge reduction in sub-bass frequencies on the highway!

View attachment 464723 View attachment 464725

Interesting. I bought a little organizer box for that area and stuck a bunch of stuff in there, so I can't just fill it with a blanket. But maybe I'll try adding some sound proofing foam to the underside and see if that helps at all.

 

[superbaka]

Interesting. I bought a little organizer box for that area and stuck a bunch of stuff in there, so I can't just fill it with a blanket. But maybe I'll try adding some sound proofing foam to the underside and see if that helps at all.

Easiest thing is to put yourself in the trunk and tap on it. If it resonances, then its only going to add more sound. That is the principal behind Dynamat. Dynamat doesn't absorb sound, it stops the vibrating panels from ringing like a drum. You only need dynamat in a few places. But to block sound, you use thick acoustic fiberglass like in a recording studio, and you only can absorb the frequencies you set out to block.

I'm on a tangent about Dynamat, but notice how drummers only place a few pieces of tape. Taping the entire drumhead is unnecessary, as is filling your entire trunk with dynamat.

 

[StellarRat]

Also - I decided to remove the "spare tire" cover. I went into the trunk and found it was a source of tremendous sub-bass. Simply by tapping on it you could hear the resonance like a bass drum or subwoofer. I removed it and put a down comforter in place of the spare tire area, and low and behold, a huge reduction in sub-bass frequencies on the highway!

I use that area in my car. Do you think just sticking down some high density foam (like a yoga matt) at the bottom/sides would do anything?

 

[mswlogo]

Those rubber seal kits aren't worth the investment. I turn up the premium audio system and enjoy my tunes!

How does that help with having a conversation with someone in the car or on the phone. I’ll tell ya, it doesn’t

I think every bit helps.

Sun Screens top and back
DIY Door gaskets
Better Tires
RPM Wind gasket
Maxpider mats (including Frunk and trunk and low trunk)
Most mats doubled up on OEM carpet mats
Stuff Frunk with blankets

Made the Model 3 tolerable. Enough you could have a hands free phone call on the highway. Impossible without doing something.

 

[superbaka]

I use that area in my car. Do you think just sticking down some high density foam (like a yoga matt) at the bottom/sides would do anything?

You would have to try. Bass is mysterious and takes some testing. Its possible having a rubber trunk liner on top helps.

But the short story is - if you tap on panels of the car and hear resonance, then it will benefit to be dampened. Makes sense when you think about it. You are basically sitting in a giant vibrating box, like a violin. Driving down the road is like bowing it...the body vibrates and produces the sound. Now imagine putting dynomat on a violin - would sound pretty dead, right? Thats the idea.

 

[Zcd1]

Most of the road noise is a result of sound transmitted through the suspension to the chassis. It's not the only car where I've experienced this. Had a rental Nissan Maxima a while back that exhibited the same dramatic difference in noise level based on the road surface. I was surprised by that, as it was SO different than the Audis we'd owned for years, where the difference was much less pronounced.

This is why adding all the dynamat/gaskets doesn't eliminate the issue - those items don't address the source of most of the noise.

Also, the glass roof, while "cool", definitely doesn't attenuate sound the way a traditional headliner-equipped roof does.

It's honestly the only thing that actually bothers me about the car.

 

[voip-ninja]

Most of the road noise is a result of sound transmitted through the suspension to the chassis. It's not the only car where I've experienced this. Had a rental Nissan Maxima a while back that exhibited the same dramatic difference in noise level based on the road surface. I was surprised by that, as it was SO different than the Audis we'd owned for years, where the difference was much less pronounced.

This is why adding all the dynamat/gaskets doesn't eliminate the issue - those items don't address the source of most of the noise.

Also, the glass roof, while "cool", definitely doesn't attenuate sound the way a traditional headliner-equipped roof does.

It's honestly the only thing that actually bothers me about the car.

Agree that fundamentally it's a design aspect of the car. Lots of parts of the country have uneven road surfaces, concrete roads that cause more suspension resonation, etc.

Apparently Tesla only tests on pristine asphalt or they are thinking "meh, economy car" and just don't put much effort in this area.

By comparison something like a VW GTI is extremely quiet for an econo-box. Germans/Europeans who drive crappier roads than us and at higher speeds don't have as much tolerance for this crap....

 

[voip-ninja]

I agree the M3 could be quieter. That said it’s really not much different than some of its ICE competition re; Q50, G70, or even the pre 2019 BMW 3 w/sport suspension.

When C&D tested their early production Model 3 they reported it as being slightly louder than an Audi A4 that they had previously tested. I don't know what kind of roads they tested it on but that kind of blows out the whole "ICE cars just mask the road noise" argument.

The Model 3 is the loudest car I've owned in about 20 years and that includes vehicles purchased for my wife or for kid hauling duty. The only one somewhat close was my wife's 2013 Mini Cooper hatchback but it was still a little quieter than the Model 3.

 

[ntam]

So I went to install this and careful analysis showed me that it would interfere with the current seal in many places. I identified the area with the largest lack of a seal, and which way to install it to create the best seal.

What I ended up with was the area along the sides and also on the lift gate itself only for the area sealing the taillights. Unlike the doors, there isn't much to improve on the trunk.

Also - I decided to remove the "spare tire" cover. I went into the trunk and found it was a source of tremendous sub-bass. Simply by tapping on it you could hear the resonance like a bass drum or subwoofer. I removed it and put a down comforter in place of the spare tire area, and low and behold, a huge reduction in sub-bass frequencies on the highway!

View attachment 464723 View attachment 464725

If you look at my picture carefully, you can see that I put the seal on my trunk lid's edges only and so it does not interfere with any of the existing seals.

 

[mike123abc]

It would be nice if someone developed a kit to dampen some of the suspension noise.

 

[hridge2020]

It would be nice if someone developed a kit to dampen some of the suspension noise.

DIY - -- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0751CBXBT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[cucubits]

DIY - -- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0751CBXBT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don't think that's what he meant. That's good for generic insulation everywhere but it won't do anything to help with vibrations transmitted through the suspension. We'd need something to dampen noise where the suspension is connected to the chassis... if there is such a thing.

 

[superbaka]

We'd need something to dampen noise where the suspension is connected to the chassis... if there is such a thing.

You can put dynamat on the strut towers. Some M3 owners have said this helps. Also you can add 3M thinsulate behind the wheel openings which I hear is a noticeable improvement. I plan on doing this soon :

 

[CMoZ]

I'm curious what people mean when they say it's louder I've noticed that the tires seem to generate a bit more noise than the tires on our ICE car ( BMW 328xi) but I notice significantly less outside noise other than that in comparison. This leads me to think that a different tire could resolve it for a lot of people as well as the dynamat in the strut towers may be a potential winner in keeping that out of the cabin

 

[wjsx9999]

I just used this stuff.

https://www.amazon.com/Thinsulate-A...&psc=1&ref_=ppx_yo_mob_b_inactive_ship_o0_img

I’m in the process of doing that in hopes of quieting the road noise. Having done a few cars now over the years I personally think that using Thinsulate acoustic insulation works better and is WAY lighter than the mass loaded vinyl. I’m also using the same Noico “dynamat” material that the OP used.

I'm trying to decide how to start on road noise reduction on my AWD M3. Have you drawn any conclusions about your use of Thinsulate on the wheel-well liners (or any other location)? I can start either with that strategy or with using MLV as others have done.

I'd welcome any suggestions or reports of results.

Thanks for posting this info.